At the end of the coming festive season, the City of Cape Town is to embark on a major program to upgrade one of the most popular tourist attractions in the CBD, the historic Greenmarket Square.

To facilitate this process, the City, as owner of the property, has terminated the lease which Mr Badih Chabaan previously administered in respect of most of the Square and, as of the first of December, the City will resume possession and control of the property and the management of that section of the informal trading market previously controlled by Mr Chabaan.

The City will manage and operate the open air market on the Square from1 December 2007 to 28 February 2008. The informal traders previously paying rentals to Mr Chabaan have accordingly been advised that they must, by 19 November, register their current trader status on the City's database.

To assist them and to regularise trading, the City will reduce the rental fees (of R70-00 per day) for the informal trading sites they occupy, to R400 per month.

This monthly rental fee must be paid on or before the first day of each month at the Green Point Traffic Department, starting from 1 December. Payment for December can be made from 26 November.

Once they have registered on the City's database, the traders will then be issued with a monthly permit which must be available for inspection on the site for the month in question.

By registering on the City’s database the traders will become part of the consultative process when the upgrade program starts, a process that will also involve adjoining property owners and other interested parties as well. However, should they fail to so register, their lease will be terminated and the site re-allocated.